Roadside marking post



DSG 6, 1956 A. P. sTEENBx-:RG

ROADSIDE MARKING PST Filed April 27, 1964 United States Patent O3,289,555 RUADSHDE MARKING PST Andreas Peter Steenherg, Hvidovre,Copenhagen, lDenmark, assignor to Dammannbeeken Plasticindustri A/S,Copenhagen, Denmark Filed Apr. 2.7, 1964i, Ser. No. 362,711

Claims priority, application Denmark, Apr. 26, 1963,

1,956/63; lan. 24, 1964, 369/64 4 Claims. (Cl. 941-15) The inventionrelates to a roadside marking post having a base portion adapted to beforced into a tubular base receiver which receiver is placed in theearth, a body portion, and va reflective material mounted on the bodyportion.

It is known to manufacture roadside marking posts of rigid materialswith resilient locking means at their base so that the .posts can bereadily removed from the receiver, for example when the grass of theverge in which they are mounted is to be mowed, land so that they arethrown up from the corresponding receiver when struck by a collidingvehicle. Since, however, the post is of a rigid material i-t has to beprovided with separate resilient locking means, which enhances its oostof manufacture. Further, there are known roadside markers of resilientmaterials, but these .are similarly provi-ded with separate attachmentmeans `and are furthermore rather costly to manufacture.

It has been found that roadside ymarking posts `of plastic are veryadvantageous, partly because such material is cheap, partly because theymay be made so resilient that they do not damage a vehicle that hitsthem. Owing to their light weight they are further easy to remove,either temporarily during repair works or for replacement. The plasticmaterial, however, presents certain problems in regard to retaining thepost in the tubular base receiver, which problems are due partly to thesoftness of the material and partly to the fact that t-he material workssomewhat when exposed to the temperature variations. It is the object ofthe invention to solve these problems and to manufacture a cheap, butnevertheless durable roadside marking post of the aforesaid kind.

An essential feature of the roadside marking post `according to theinvention is that it has the form of a resilien-t hollow ybody ofplastic and surface of which is formed with at least one contact surfacewith one or more locking bosses Whichare made integral with the post andserve to retain it to its receiver. Such a hollow body is ofconsiderable bendability land streng-th and since the contact surfaceand the locking bosses may be formed as an integral part of the roadsidemarking post during its manufacture, lfor example by inflation in amold, the post can be manufactured `at low cost.

The use rof plastic material involves furthermore problems in regard toretaining reflective materials to the post, which is likewise due to thesoftness of the material and its tendency to work when exposed totemperature variations. However, this problem is solved too when thepost, as in the case of yone embodiment according to the invention, hasone or more contact surfaces with locking bosses on its upright partabove the base section, the said locking ybosses serving to retain therellective material to the post. These locking bosses can be readilymade by the same methods as the locking bosses provided in the base.

An essential feature of the roadside marking post according to t-heinvention is that the contact surfaces for the reflective materials arecountersunk in the surface yof the post, the reflective materials beingmounted on correspondingly formed plates which with projecting lockingbosses with widened heads are pressed into holes in the ICC contactsurfaces. Furthermore, from the edge of the countersunk Contact surfacethe locking bosses engage the edges of the plate. As a result the plateswith the reflective materials may be mounted promptly and securely,since, when the pole is withdrawn from the mold, they are placed on thecontact surfaces with the pins passed into the holes of same, afterwhich the locking bosses engage the plate edges when the plasticmaterial around the plates contracts by the cooling, so as to lock theplates in position. The pins that `are passed into the holes by snapaction prevention the plate with the reflective material from bulgingout `from the contact surface when the latter is brought into contactwith the hot plastic surface.

The locking bosses may according to the invention form an edge extendingthe whole way round along the countersunk contact surface and sloping onto the plate which carries the reflective material. The plate is thussurrounded by the plastic edge so that it is very eiiiciently retainedalong the whole edge without the use of short locking bosses which mightbe exposed to wilful damage.

The plate carrying the reflective material may according to theinvention have an edge section which is narrower than the remaining partof the plate. The projecting plastic edge or the bosses around thecountersunk cont-act surface may thereby be made flush with the re--maining surface of the plastic post `and the reflective surface.

According to the invention it is advantageous that the locking vboss ofthe base is designed with a projection on flat contact surface of thebase receiver, which, by the way, is cylindrical `and has acircumferential depression at its upper end, the said depression beinglimited upwardly by a tiat, projecting supporting flange substantially.at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the post. When the roadsidemarking post is mounted in its base section, the upper part of the flatsurface of the base is resting in contact with -a corresponding flatsurface of the base, Ithe locking boss engaging beneath the lastmentioned surface, and the depression beneath the supporting flange actsas an accordion f-old so as to provide added bendability of the post andthus increasing its resistance to the impact caused by slight collisionwith vehicular tratlic. OW- ing to the flat contact surface the post isalways correctly positioned in the base receiver, that is, in suchmanner that the reflective material faces in the proper direction, `andthis surface and the locking rboss are preferably mounted so as to facethe oncoming vehicular traffic, so that the locking -boss in case ofcollision is pressed into still firmer engagement with the base section.

The bendability of the post may according to the invention be furtherincreased if the supporting flange upwardly passes into `a conical partof the surface of the post, the said part, again, passing at its upperend into the upper box-shaped part of t-he post.

The locking boss of the base may according to the invention be providedbetween a couple of longitudinal ribs projecting from the llat surfaceto a height slightly less than the height of the l-ocking boss. When thepost is pressed down into the base receiver until the locking boss withsnap action engages the underside of the corresponding locking edge, thepost slides on the ribs which thereby absorb the wear and at the sametime prevents the locking boss from being depressed so much that itloses its elasticity.

The -invention will now b-e described in detail with reference to thedrawing, in which FIGURE 1 shows an embodiment of a roadside markingpost according to the invention, viewed in perspective,

FIGURE 2 is a section on the line II-II of FIG- URE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a corresponding section of `another embodiment,

FIGURE 4 shows the triangular plate carrying the reflective material,viewed from the edge inwardly towards the right angle,

FIGURE 5 is a section on the line V-V of FIGURE 1 through the base ofthe roadside marking post, with the base receiver shown in ghost form,

FIGURE 6 is the lower part of the base, viewed from the side, with thebase receiver shown in ghost form, and

FIGURE 7 is a side view of the base mounted in the base receiver, whichview is partly in section along section line VII-VII of FIG. 6.

The roadside marking post illustrated consists of a hollow body ofplastic with an upper part 1 having the form of a flat box the largerside surfaces of which are of narrowing width downwards, forming attheir lower end together with the narrow side surfaces a truncateddownwardly tapering section 2 the lower end of which, again, passes intoa short flange section 3 -of the form of a cylindrical truncated conewith downwardly facing flat base to form a supporting flange -4 on whichthe roadside marking post is resting when mounted in a tubular basesection in the ground. Owing to the fo-rm of the body of the post it isof great strength and bendability when manufactured of a tough plasticmaterial, the rectangular cross section of the upper end of the postgiving it rather great strength, simultaneously with the post having acertain bendability at the edge between the sections 2 and 3 and still`greater bendability at the transition between the section 3 and thebase 5 of the post since there is provided here Ia circumferentialgroove 6 so that the whole section involved acts as an accordion bellowswith a single fold.

The upper part 1 of the embodiment illustrated carries a triangularplate 7 on which there is provided a reflective material 8. The plate 7is countersunk in a depression provided in the surface of the post andis retained by means of locking bosses 9 and pins 10 which are passedlby snap action through holes in the wall of the post, the pins having apointed head 11 with a flat -underside. The plate 7 with the reflectivematerial 8 is mounted on the post directly after -its removal from thecasting mold when it has a temperature of about 60-70 C. When the pinsare pressed through the holes provided in the surface of the post, theplate is retained despite the heat transmitted to it by 'the post, sothat it yrests in flat contact with the countersunk contact surface onthe surface of -the post. At the subsequent cooling the plastic materialof the post contracts whereby the locking bosses 9 engage the edges ofthe rigid plate 7 .and retain the said plate in position. In theembodiment shown in FIGURES 2 and 4 the plate 7 has a thin edge section12 so that the upper side of the roadside marking post proper and theupper side of the locking bosses 9 which constitute integral parts ofthepost and of the plate 7 are flush with each other.

FIGURE 3 shows a section through `an embodiment in which the lockingbosses 9 have been substituted by an inwardly including edge 13extending the whole way round along the contact surface on which theplate '7 is resting so that the said pla-te'is fully enclosed when thematerial of the .post contracts and in which the holes have beensubstituted by concavities. The concavities cooperate with the heads 11in the same manner as the holes cooperate with the heads 11. In otherwords, the entrance of each concavity, like each hole, both of which maygenerically be referred to as an orifice, at a temperature of about60-70 C., when the post is first removed from the mold, is about thesame size as or larger than the head and, when the post cools, becomessmaller than the head.

The base 5 of the roadside marking post has a flat contact surface 14conforming to a corresponding fiat surface provided in the base in whichthe post is to be mounted 4and being so oriented that the reflectivematerial 8 is facing the oncoming vehicular traffic. A locking boss 15is partly depressed when the base 5 is passed into the correspondingbase section in the gro-und.l Longitudinal ribs 16 absorb wear on thepost and prevent complete `depression of the locking boss 15 theelasticity of which would otherwise be lost.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A resilient post having a base portion and a body portion, said basehaving an outwardly projecting boss adapted to resiliently engage theinner walls of a hollow receiver for mounting of said post, said bodyhaving a recess, inwardly directed resilient flanges extending fromperipheral portions of said recess, the inward edges of the flangesbeing spaced from t-he bottom of said recess, and a plate of reflectivematerial disposed in said recess and held in place by said resilientanges.

2. A resilient post according to claim 1, in which said flanges extendcontinuously from the entire periphery of the recess.

3. A resilient post according to claim 1, in which the plate is providedwith at least one outwardly projecting locking pin, said locking pinhaving a neck and an enlarged head, `and the bottom of the recess isprovided with an orifice, said head projecting completely into saidorifice, the transverse dimension of said orifice being less than thetransverse dimension of said head and at least as great `as thetransverse dimension of said neck.

4. A resilient post according to claim 1, in which the edges of saidplate are of thinner cross-section than the remainder of said plate.

Refer-ences Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,164,90912/1915 Anberlin 40-145 1,612,035 12/1926 Lorenzo 40-143 2,653,8409/1953 Bitzer 287--126 2,709,907 6/ 1955 Robertson 287-126 3,026,641 4/1962 Keats.

3,089,269 5/1963 McKiernan 40-143 3,102,742 9/ 19163 Shurcliff 287-1263,204,355 9/1965 Whiteman 40-145 JACOB L. N ACKENOFF, Primary Examiner.

1. A RESILIENT POST HAVING A BASE PORTION AND A BODY PORTION, SAID BASEHAVING AN OUTWARDLY PROJECTING BOSS ADAPTED TO RESILIENTLY ENGAGE THEINNER WALLS OF A HOLLOW RECEIVER FOR MOUNTING OF SAID POST, SAID BODYHAVING A RECESS, INWARDLY DIRECTED RESILIENT FLANGES EXTENDING FROMPERIPHERAL PORTIONS OF SAID RECESS, THE INWARD EDGES OF THE FLANGESBEING SPACED FROM THE BOTTOM OF SAID RECESS, AND A PLATE OF REFLECTIVEMATERIAL DISPOSED IN SAID RECESS AND HELD IN PLACE BY SAID RESILIENTFLANGES.